Use of bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and other personal mobility vehicles is on the rise. Whether for basic transportation, for a working commute, for deliveries, and/or for recreation, these modes of transportation have seen a rise in use in recent years.
These modes of transportation often provide no external protection to a user riding the personal mobility vehicles. Furthermore, unlike cars, trucks, or other similar modes of transportation, there is often no place to safely access a mobile electronic device while safely maneuvering the personal mobility vehicles.
With the rise of advanced wireless communication devices, a safe means of accessing these devices, or using their functions, while driving a personal mobility vehicle is thus needed. Since these modes of transportation often require a helmet for protection, a means of incorporating smart technology into a helmet is needed in this growing transportation field.
Examples of related art are described below:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,570,301 generally describes devices, systems and methods of mounting audio/video capturing equipment. For example, a mounting device for mounting equipment onto a helmet includes: a support structure having one or more gripping mechanisms adapted to be fitted to one or more locations of the helmet; and a camera mount, at a first location of the support structure, to support a camera at a desired image-capturing position.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,860,570 generally describes a system for sensing, analyzing and reporting a collision event experienced by a person or object sensor module designed to a person or object, module angular velocities over time and a processor for analyzing the sensed velocities, calculating properties of angular velocities, such as jerk and jolt, comparing these properties with threshold values selected to correlate to predicted severities of injury to the person or object, transmitting information regarding these properties to communication device user-designated persons. Also provided are group tracking and communication devices for use by monitors to manage multiple persons equipped with sensor modules. The sensor modules and group tracking and communication devices are designed to be portable, attachable and detachable so that they can be attached to different types of gear used by persons engaging in different activities.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,451,802 generally describes a method for recording accidents that includes: in a first mode, capturing a second video frame at a second time, storing the second video frame with a first sequence of video frames, captured over a buffer duration, in local memory in the helmet, removing a first video frame captured outside of the buffer duration from local memory, and rendering a subregion of the second video frame on a display arranged within the helmet; in response to detection of an accident involving the helmet, transitioning from the first mode into a second mode; in the second mode, capturing a second sequence of video frames, and storing the second sequence of video frames exceeding the buffer duration in local memory; and generating a video file from the first sequence of video frames and the second sequence of video frames stored in local memory.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2013/0276538 generally describes a non-powered impact recorder. The non-powered impact recorder includes a resonator tuned for a resonant response within a predetermined frequency range. A reduced cross-sectional area portion is formed within the resonator and configured to structurally fail when the resonator experiences the resonant response. Additionally, the non-powered impact recorder includes an electric circuit element disposed about the reduced cross-sectional area portion of the resonator. Upon structural failure of the resonator, the electric circuit element is broken to cause a discontinuity in the electric circuit element. Interrogation of the discontinuous electric circuit element facilitates approximation of impact frequency and/or impact energy.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2016/0037849 generally describes a helmet system that includes: a shell defining an interior volume and an aperture proximal an anterior end of the shell; a primary visor coupled to the shell and transiently arranged over the aperture; a secondary visor adjacent the aperture, including an elongated translucent member suspended from the shell, and defining a first discrete reflective region on a right side of the elongated translucent member and a second discrete reflective region on a left side of the elongated translucent member; a camera coupled to the shell and defining a field of view extending outwardly from a posterior end of the shell; and a projection system projecting an image onto the first discrete reflective region and onto the second discrete reflective region, the image comprising a subregion of a video frame recorded by the camera, the secondary visor reflecting the image toward the interior volume.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2016/0309827 generally describes a protective helmet that includes a protective shell, a visor, two rearward-mounted imagers, a display, and a processing system. The protective shell has an opening in front that is selectively covered by the visor and is configured to fit about the head of a user. The two imagers are mounted in substantially fixed positions on the rear of the protective shell so as to collectively provide a view of greater than 180 degrees about the rear of the protective shell. The processing system is operably associated with the two imagers and the at least one display, which displays real-time video from at least the left-most of the two imagers, as well as real-time video from the right-most imager or navigation, positioning, audio entertainment, or telephone call information. The helmet may further include a multi-level proximity alert system, an impact emergency alert system, and rechargeable power system.
None of the art described above addresses all of the issues that the present invention does.